Betta tank space question.

[kashif314]

I am not a beta fan but something I find very uncomfortable about beta fish. Even the biggest store have them like in a jar or like a very small like one litter tank. Why is it like that? Some very tiny fish are kept in large tanks but why betas are kept in small spaces? Isn't it unhealthy for the fish to live like that?

 

[ZxC]

I am not a beta fan but something I find very uncomfortable about beta fish. Even the biggest store have them like in a jar or like a very small like one litter tank. Why is it like that? Some very tiny fish are kept in large tanks but why betas are kept in small spaces? Isn't it unhealthy for the fish to live like that?

In the wild bettas are exposed to dry seasonal conditions, which drastically reduces the amount of water in their already small, slow moving streams and drainage ditches. This leaves them within small pockets of water for long periods of time, they have adapted to live in sometimes crammed conditions. Even when the streams/drainage ditches or rice paddies are full of water, they are usually extremely packed with vegetation, and the bettas are territorial so they really only occupy a small area anyway.

Some think in larger tanks they freak out, I would partly agree to this. In smaller tanks (in my experience) they are more active, out and about, showing off their colours and finnage, but in larger tanks they spend most of the time in behind plants, not actively swimming around. Of course this is only my experience.

Lots of territorial fish interact with their owners more so in a smaller tank. Bettas also don't really need the room to dart around the tank, they are powerful little fish, they just don't swim around resulting in a lesser need for real estate.

Now, this does NOT remove the need for proper filtration and water temperature, usually a 2.5 gallon is a good cut off for keeping a betta, but with the price and the footprint of a 5.5 gal, the larger tank is really the way to go.

 

[IHaveAquariums]

Stores do that because they typically only sell males and males would kill each other so in stead of giving them proper tanks they just use cups because they'll survive for a bit in them

 

[kashif314]

Stores do that because they typically only sell males and males would kill each other so in stead of giving them proper tanks they just use cups because they'll survive for a bit in them

In the wild bettas are exposed to dry seasonal conditions, which drastically reduces the amount of water in their already small, slow moving streams and drainage ditches. This leaves them within small pockets of water for long periods of time, they have adapted to live in sometimes crammed conditions. Even when the streams/drainage ditches or rice paddies are full of water, they are usually extremely packed with vegetation, and the bettas are territorial so they really only occupy a small area anyway.

Some think in larger tanks they freak out, I would partly agree to this. In smaller tanks (in my experience) they are more active, out and about, showing off their colours and finnage, but in larger tanks they spend most of the time in behind plants, not actively swimming around. Of course this is only my experience.

Lots of territorial fish interact with their owners more so in a smaller tank. Bettas also don't really need the room to dart around the tank, they are powerful little fish, they just don't swim around resulting in a lesser need for real estate.

Now, this does NOT remove the need for proper filtration and water temperature, usually a 2.5 gallon is a good cut off for keeping a betta, but with the price and the footprint of a 5.5 gal, the larger tank is really the way to go.

Thanks a lot for the detailed replies. Make sense. Very nice explanation.